Better Left Buried
'Better Left Buried '''is the fortieth chapter in ''Last Argument of Kings.1 Chapter Summary Ferro returns exhausted to the Agriont from the thick of the fighting. Even Ferro is getting tired taking her revenge one Gurkish at a time. She finds Yulwei waiting in Bayaz’ chambers. Saddened to see her embracing her thirst for vengeance, Yulwei offers to take her back to Kanta. But Ferro just sneers, she may not trust Bayaz, but at least he understands her. Soon Bayaz enters, furious at the King’s defiance. Yulwei tells him news of Khalul’s Hundred Words, who feast in preparation for being let loosed on Bayaz. Disconcerted by the news, Bayaz announces that they must return to the House of the Maker, to get The Divider and other weapons. Yulwei and Quai agree to accompany him, but Bayaz refuses to allow Ferro to come. Alone in the room, Ferro makes her own choice and follows after Bayaz in the shadows.2 Inside the House, Ferro overhears Yulwei asks Bayaz to tell him once more how Juvens died. Bayaz repeats the story he has told many times, that Kanedias killed Juvens. Yulwei nods convinced, but Ferro hear lies in the words. As Bayaz, Quai and Yulwei go get the weapons, Ferro is fascinated by the black ball in the centre of the series of rings above the first hall. She climbs to it, unable to turn away. When she touches it, it falls to the ground. Rushing back to the ground, she cradles the rock in her hand. Suddenly, Bayaz returns and declares it The Seed, here in the House of the Maker, all this time. He orders Ferro to leave immediately, and take it to the box in his room. Yet, Quai tells her in a commanding voice to stay. He tries to grab The Seed, and his touch freezing Ferro’s arm, but Bayaz whips him across the hall with his Art. As Ferro moves to go, Quai rises, unhurt and unmollified. Quai’s face dissolves and becomes Tolomei, daughter of the Maker, once lover to Bayaz.3 As Bayaz stands stunned, she relates how Bayaz himself killed her,4 how the Seed “altered” her and now cannot die. Buried beneath the earth, she made a deal with the Demons to use The Seed to throw open the gates to The Other Side. They battle, with Yulwei joining the fight, but none can stand before Tolomei’s power. Bayaz, willing to sacrifice anything and anyone, pulls down the roof atop both Yulwei and Tolomei. With that, Ferro flees back to Bayaz’s rooms, and seals the Seed away, stunned to find her frozen arm has already healed. Soon Bayaz returns, battered but alive; he is alone. He hands The Divider to Yoru Sulfur, in exchange for a black book, wrapped in old oilskin; Glustrod's book. Ferro asks where Yulwei is, a good man who saved her life in the desert, and Bayaz admits he locked Yulwei and Tolomei in the House;5 a terrible loss but good men will only go so far long dark paths, and they must now walk a very dark path indeed. Ferro agrees. What does it matter, all she wants is vengeance. Bayaz nods with a lupine smile. Characters Locations and Terms References # This chapter is very much the Wham Episode of the book. The point in a series where the story takes a sudden dramatic turn and things will never be quite the same again. # There's some foreshadowing of Yoru Sulfur's involvement in all this, in Yulwei's comment that “His studies ran in… dangerous directions." # Tolomei has been alive for a thousand years, since she was thrown from the House of the Maker. She killed Malacus Quai and took his face so she could steal The Seed from Bayaz when he found it. The mauled body found by Glokta in the chapter The Seed ''was Quai. Quai's change of personality has been heavily hinted at throughout the series, starting in [[Never Bet Against a Magus|''Never Bet Against a Magus]]. # Bayaz effectively admits he killed Tolomei himself, “So that you could keep your secrets? So that you could seem noble?”. The secret is most likely that Tolomei would have known that it was Bayaz who really killed Juvens. Her father Kanedias would surely have told his daughter that he didn’t kill his brother, and what really happened. If Bayaz hadn’t killed Tolomei, then she would have told the other Magi, and Bayaz’s noble vengeance on Kanedias, would be exposed as a lie. As for Juvens, who knows? The upcoming stories will tell us a little more. # It's an interesting question whether Bayaz intentionally made little effort to save Yulwei, because Yulwei might start thinking a little too hard about what happened way back when, and turn against him. Category:Chapter